PC RES 2018-012 P.C. RESOLUTION NO. 2018-12
A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
RANCHO PALOS VERDES RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY
COUNCIL APPROVE THE UPDATED GENERAL PLAN AND
GENERAL PLAN LAND USE MAP.
WHEREAS, on January 12, 2002, the City Council initiated a comprehensive update to
the General Plan and formed a 15-member General Plan Update Steering Committee to assist
in the update process;
WHEREAS, a non-City sponsored "grass-roots" committee of more than 210 residents
formed for the purpose of preparing a "Goals Report" that identified various goals for the City.
This Goals Report was provided to each member of the General Plan Update Steering
Committee, which also considered it in making the Steering Committee's own review and
findings in its report to the City Council;
WHEREAS, on December 21, 2004, the Steering Committee's recommendations along
with a General Plan Update Program were presented to the City Council. The City Council
directed Staff to proceed with the following for future review by the proposed Planning
Commission and City Council: (1) Draft proposed amendments to the General Plan Goals and
Policies as recommended by the General Plan Update Steering Committee; (2) Update the
factual information within the General Plan; and (3) Propose improvements to the general
format of the General Plan and the mandatory elements to make the Plan more user friendly.
The City Council also directed Staff to obtain a consultant to assist with updating portions of the
General Plan and disbanded the General Plan Update Steering Committee;
WHEREAS, on February 20, 2007, the City Council entered into an agreement with
three consulting firms to assist Staff with the update;
WHEREAS, on September 29, 2009, the City Council and Planning Commission held a
joint workshop to kick off to the General Plan Update process;
WHEREAS, beginning in late 2009, the Planning Commission began to conduct public
hearings on the update of the General Plan document and the General Plan Land Use Map;
WHEREAS, in 2013, the Planning Commission reviewed and accepted the draft of the
updated General Plan. Since that time, additional necessary land use changes that were
inadvertently left out and text amendments based on new statues were introduced by Staff and
reviewed by the Planning Commission. In 2015, the Planning Commission again reviewed and
accepted a complete draft of the updated General Plan and the General Plan Land Use Map;
WHEREAS, in late 2015, the new City Attorney reviewed the draft updated General Plan
document and determined that certain text was legally insufficient and the technical studies (Air
Quality, Traffic, and Noise) needed to be updated given the recent statutes. Accordingly, the City
contracted with Environmental Science Associates (ESA), who completed the technical studies
in 2017. The technical studies were reviewed and accepted by the Planning Commission in
2017;
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WHEREAS, on March 8, 2018, a public notice was published in the Palos Verdes
Peninsula News and a list-serve message was sent announcing the availability of the final draft
of the General Plan and the General Plan Land Use Map;
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing on March 27,
2018, at which time all interested parties were given an opportunity to be heard and present
evidence.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF RANCHO PALOS
VERDES DOES HEREBY FIND, DETERMINE AND RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1: The updated General Plan includes comprehensive revisions to all
previous elements of the General Plan, with the exception of the Housing Element which was
adopted by the City Council and certified by the California Department of Housing and
Community Development in 2014. The updated General Plan contains each of the remaining
seven required elements under Government Code Section 65302, as follows:
A. Circulation Element, presenting a plan to ensure that utilities and transportation,
including public transportation services, are constantly available to permit orderly growth
and to promote the public health, safety, and welfare.
B. Conservation and Open Space Element, combined two elements, providing an
evaluation of the basic ecological and environmental units dealing with the natural
factors of land, climate, hydrology, biotic resources, geotechnical factors, and the
systematic relationships that must exist among them.
C. Environmental Justice Element, addressing environmental justice through the
development of a comprehensive set of goals and policies, consistent with State
requirements, to encourage greater public participation and reduce environmental
hazards to target populations in the City.
D. Land Use Element, describing the distribution and location of land uses, population
density, and building intensity.
E. Noise Element, identifying existing and potential future sources of noise within the
community, and strategies to limit the exposure of the community to excessive noise
levels.
F. Safety Element, identifying hazards; assessing vulnerability; analyzing risk; and
containing goals, policies, and objectives to reduce risk and prevent loss from future
natural hazard events within the City.
Section 2: The updated General Plan also addresses two optional topics that are of
particular to the community, as allowed by Government Code section 65303, as follows:
A. Fiscal Element, an optional element, establishing the policy framework necessary to
guide all of the City's short- and long-term fiscal decisions.
B. Visual Resources Element, an optional element, providing guidance through
establishment of goals and policies to ensure the continued preservation, restoration, and
enhancement of significant visual resources within the City.
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Section 3: The updated General Plan includes the following revisions based on the
current development of the City, current economic and demographic data, City Council-
approved land use decisions, and statutory requirements.
A. Circulation Element renames the existing Infrastructure Element.
1) Deletes infrastructure related narrative at the beginning and adds a new introductory
section describing the role and purpose of the element.
2) Deletes outdated descriptions of improvements to freeways outside of the City limits.
3) Relocates the air quality discussion to the Air Quality, Greenhouse Gas, and Climate
Change discussions under the Safety Element.
4) Updates discussions related to arterial, collector, and local streets; level of service
and a list of streets operating at unacceptable levels of service; and future conditions
based on the 2017 Traffic Study.
5) Adds a discussion on effects the Portuguese Bend Landslide has on the City's
circulation system.
6) Relocates the vehicle noise discussion to the Noise Element.
7) Updates public transportation information.
8) Adds airport and seaport discussion as required per Gov. Code §65302(b).
9) Updates the path and trail network discussion.
10)Updates infrastructure, resource (water, natural gas, and electricity),
disposal/recovery systems (sewer systems, solid waste, flood control and storm
drain systems), communications systems discussions based on completed projects
and improved technology.
11)Adds military airport and port discussion as required per Gov. Code §65302(b).
B. Conservation and Open Space Element renames the existing Natural Environment
Element.
1) Adds an introductory section.
2) Relocates the discussion on climate and air quality to the Safety Element as part of
the updated Air Quality, Greenhouse Gas, and Climate Change discussion.
3) Updates topography, geologic conditions, geotechnical factors, and landslide
information.
4) Adds a coastal discussion consistent with the 1978 Local Coastal Program.
5) Updates mineral resources and hydrology discussions.
6) Adds a discussion on the City's Natural Community Conservation Plan and Habitat
Conservation Plan (NNCP/HCP).
7) Updates ocean resources management discussion.
8) Updates open space and recreational resources, including descriptions of all City-
owned and County-owned public parks and facilities in the City.
9) Updates school district facilities discussion.
10)Adds descriptions of the City's Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.
11)Adds discussion related to City-acquired private property.
12)Adds discussion on the City's Parks Master Plan.
13)Adds discussion for military support and tribal resources as required per Gov. Code
§65302(d) and §65560.
14)Deletes text on agriculture as the single zoned area is now obsolete.
15)Adds text on the grove of trees planted at Ryan Park and Malaga Cove Library under
Historical Resources based on the Rancho de Los Palos Verdes Historical Society
and Museum's list of dedicated historical sites on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
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C. Environmental Justice Element replaces the Social Services Element.
1) Replaces the social services introduction with the definition, purpose, and background
of Environmental Justice.
2) Adds new goals and policies. No changes were made to the Committee's amended
Social Service Goals and Policies as they are now placed under this Element.
3) Deletes social and cultural development discussion.
4) Updates the existing Senior Services discussion under a new heading named Setting.
5) Adds text related to public input and participation and environmental and health risks
(promotion of public facilities, safe and sanitary homes, and healthy food access and
physical activity).
6) Adds text related to special events, PVIC, Reach program, and dog parks. This section
was inadvertently shown as existing text in the track change document when it's
actually new language.
D. Fiscal Element.
1) Replaces and reduced the existing introductory narrative to simply the purpose and
layout of the Fiscal Element.
2) Replaces the existing text as it reflects specific information about the fiscal state in
1975 with less specific text to avoid being out dated soon after adoption, while
providing a snapshot in time, and to provide an understanding of what's happening in
the City. As with all elements, Staff intends to update individual elements
periodically.
E. Land Use Element renames the existing Urban Environment Element.
1) Expands the introduction section to include the purpose and content of the land use
element.
2) Adds a text on the new land use designations, such as Open Space Hillside and
Open Space Preservation.
3) Adds discussion on Greenways as required per Gov. Code §65302(a).
4) Updates acreage of land use types.
5) Adds a discussion on primary and secondary urban activity areas.
6) Updates the residential density section to include intensity as required per Gov.
Code §65302(a).
7) Updates the commercial section to include density and intensity as required per Gov.
Code §65302(a).
8) Updates retail facilities, commercial, and office space information.
9) Adds a discussion related to industrial activity as required per Gov. Code §65302(a).
10)Adds a description of cemetery activity in the City.
11)Deletes most of the outdated content related to future commercial activity.
12)Adds a discussion related to the Western Avenue Vision Plan.
13)Updates the service station section.
14)Updates the institutional section to include density and intensity as required per Gov.
Code §65302(a).
15)Updates the discussion on City facilities and provided a list of all City parks.
16)Updates the discussion related to fire description, county facilities, state facilities,
and federal facilities.
17)Adds the statement that no public or private airports or airstrips exist in the City per
Gov. Code §65302.3.
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18)Updates the discussion related to school facilities and added historical enrollment
data for PVPUSD.
19)Expands the recreational land use discussion to include acreage, parkland or in-lieu
(Quimby)fees, and census data.
20)Adds a dog park section.
21)Removes most of the discussion under agriculture as the only area designated as
Agriculture is proposed to be removed.
22)Adds a timberland production activity section as required per Gov. Code
§65302(a)(1).
23)Adds military readiness section as required per Gov. Code §65302(a)(2)(B).
24)Updates the infrastructure facility section.
25)Adds solid and liquid waste disposal facilities section per Gov. Code §65302(a).
26)Updates the discussion on population description including updated acreage per
density and census data.
27)Updates and expands the Overlay Control Districts section to include the City-
created Automotive Service, Mira Vista, and Equestrian Overlay Districts.
28)Expands the specific plan district section to include the Coastal Specific Plan,
Western Avenue, and Eastview Park Specific Plan District.
29)Adds a discussion on the City's former redevelopment project area and its history.
30)Added discussion about the Landslide Moratorium Area and its history.
31)Adds a flood hazard area discussion per Gov. Code §65302(a).
32)Updates compatibility of adjacent activity areas to the City, including border issues.
33)Adds unincorporated island, fringe or legacy communities as required per SB 244.
F. Noise Element is a new element that was previously part of the Sensory Environment
Element.
1) Replaces most of the existing text based on the 2017 Noise Study.
2) Updates airport operations data, included the discussion related to helicopter routes,
and City's involvement with the LAX Community Noise Roundtable.
3) Adds a sentence stating that there are no industrial plants in the City as required per
Gov. Code §65302(f)(E).
4) Adds military installation section as required per Gov. Code §65302(f)(1)(D).
G. Safety Element
1) Replaces the introduction to include text related to the Joint Hazard Mitigation Plan
and the purpose of the safety element.
2) Updates the discussion related to fire hazards and adds a fire hazard zone section.
3) Updates the discussion related to flood hazards and adds flood hazard zones, Army
Corps of Engineer, FEMA flood insurance map sections as required per Gov. Code
§65302(g)(2).
4) Updates the discussion related to geologic hazards.
5) Adds climate change section, including discussions related to GHG emissions,
climate change adaptations, and vulnerabilities in the City as required per Gov. Code
§65302(g)(4).
6) Deletes air pollution discussion as updated information was added under the climate
change section.
7) Replaces the outdated emergency services, healthcare, flood control, police
protection, disaster preparedness and response, emergency communications,
animal control, and air pollution control sections in its entirety.
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8) Updates the fire protection section including discussions related to minimum road
widths and clearances around structures as required per Gov. Code §65302(8)(1).
9) Updates codes and ordinances sections to be less specific and more general so that
the data is not outdated immediately after adoption of the General Plan.
H. Visual Resources Element is a new element that was previously part of the Sensory
Environment Element.
1) Expands the introduction section.
2) Updates the definition of Views, Vista, and View Corridors, replaces and expands
most of the existing text to include information from the View Restoration Guidelines
and the voter-approved Proposition M.
Section 4: The updated General Plan Land Use Map includes the following land use
designation changes:
A. Land use designation changes approved by the City Council since 1975:
1) Tract 28750 (Peacock Ridge and Highridge Road) - changed land use designation
from Residential 2-4 du/ac to Residential 4-6 du/ac.
2) Established regulations for development in the Coastal Zone.
3) Tract 27832 (Lots 1-8 Indian Valley Road) - changed non-conforming land use from
Single-family to Multi-family.
4) Ave. Esplendida &Ave. Classica and Indian Valley Rd. &Armaga Spring Road -
changed land use from Institutional to Residential 2-4 du/ac on two former school
sites.
5) 980 Silver Spur Road - changed land use from Commercial Office to Commercial
Retail —remove Natural Overlay Control District.
6) Former Abalone Cove school site — changed land use from Agriculture to
Commercial Recreational.
7) Paseo Del Mar at La Rotunda - changed land use from Institutional to Residential 1-2
du/ac.
8) Residential Planned Development (Villa Capri) Tract No. 44239 — changed land use
from Commercial Retail to Residential 6-12 du/ac.
9) 3945 Dauntless Drive - changed land use from Institutional to Residential 2-4 du/ac.
10)Eastview Annexation —established land use designations for Eastview Annexation.
11)28041 Hawthorne Blvd. - changed land use designation from Residential to
Commercial.
12)Citywide - eliminated non-conforming auto service stations
13)6108, 6118, 6124 PV Drive South — changed land use designation from Residential
2-4 du/ac to Commercial for 6108 and 6118 PVDS; Residential 2-4 du/ac to
Institutional for 6124 PVDS.
14)5325 Ironwood and 5303 Bayridge - changed land use designation from Residential
2-4 du/ac to Residential 1 du/sac.
15)6100 Palos Verdes Drive South — changed land use designation from Commercial
Office to Residential.
16)Several properties within the San Ramon Canyon area - moved Natural/Environment
Hazard boundary line and change the land use designation on several properties
from Natural/Environment Hazard to Residential 2-4 du/ac
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17)3324 Seaclaire Drive — moved Natural/Environment Hazard boundary line and
change the land use designation from Natural/Environment Hazard to Residential 2-4
du/ac.
18)28220 Highridge Road (0.010-acre portion of a 28-unit condominium project annexed
from Rolling Hills Estates) — changed the land use designation from I to RM 12-22
du/ac.
19)32639 Nantasket Drive—changed the land use designation from Commercial to
Residential, (CR to R2-4 du/ac).
20)5555 Crestridge Road - relocated Natural/Environment Hazard boundary line and
change the land use designation from Natural/Environment Hazard to Institutional.
21)5656 Crest Road — changed land use designation from Residential 1-2 du/ac to
Residential 2-4 du/ac.
22) 10 Chaparral Lane — relocated the Natural/Environment Hazard boundary line and
change the land use designation from Natural/Environment Hazard to Residential 1-2
du/ac.
B. Land use designation changes based on recommendations by the City Geologist,
consistency with the 2012 Zoning Map, and consistency with the updated Draft Natural
Communities Conservation Plan/Habitat Conservation Plan.
1) 699 specific properties - adjust the Natural/Environment Hazard boundary line so
that less areas of the property is designated as Natural/Environment Hazard as
recommended by the City Geologist in 2013.
2) Portion of a residential tract east of Hawthorne and Silver Spur - change land use
designation, from Residential 2-4 du/ac to Residential 4-6 du/ac.
3) All properties that comprise the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve -establish a new
zoning designation of Open Space Preservation.
4) Certain properties located seaward of Seacove Drive to match the 1978 Coastal
Specific Plan Land Use Map - change land use designation, from Residential 2-4
du/ac to Residential 1-2 du/ac.
5) Certain residential properties located landward of Seacove Drive - change land use
designation from Residential 6-12 du/ac and Residential 4-6 du/ac to Residential 2-4
du/ac to match the 1978 Coastal Specific Plan Land Use Map.
6) Citywide - add Natural Overlay Districts consistent with the Zoning Map.
7) City-owned portion of Ladera Linda Park - change land use designation from
Institutional-Educational to Institutional-Public.
8) Vacant land on Silver Spur - change land use designation from Commercial to
Recreational-Passive.
9) Park properties: Pointe Vicente School Access Trail, Island View vacant land,
Eastview Park, Vanderlip Park, Clovercliff Park, Martingale Trailhead Park, and East
Crest Road Parcel - change land use designations to Recreational-Passive.
10)Portions of Tract 31617, 33206, 37818, 45667, and 46651 - change land use
designations to Residential 1-2 du/ac instead of having two different land use
designations separating the same neighborhood.
11)Portions of Tract 50667 - change land use designation so that the entire tract is
Residential 51 du/ac instead of having two different land use designations separating
the neighborhood.
12)Tract 16540 - change land use designation from Residential 51 du/ac to Residential
4-6 du/ac per the City Council's action in 2009.
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13)27501 Western (Green Hills Memorial Park) - change land use designation from
Commercial-Retail to Cemetery per the City Council's action in 1984 at the time of
Eastview annexation.
14) Eastview single-family residential areas - change land use designation from
Residential 2-4 du/ac to Residential 4-6 du/ac consistent with the 2012 Zoning Map.
15)3778 Coolheights - change land use designation from Residential 1-2 to
Natural/Environmental Hazard per a 1998 Settlement Agreement between the City
and the property owner.
Section 5: The draft updated General Plan and Land Use Map was made available
to the public on March 8, 2018 as follows: digital copies were posted on the City's website; hard
copies available for review at the Community Development Department of City Hall; and a
public notice published in the Peninsula News and a message sent via list-serve informing the
community about opportunities to provide input or participate in public hearings. Written
comments on the draft General Plan and Land Use Map were encouraged to be submitted
between March 8, 2018 and March 27, 2018 and were presented for consideration by the
Planning Commission during their review of the General Plan.
Section 6: The updated General Plan and Land Use Map were completed in
compliance with the requirements of California Government Code Section 65300 et seq.
Section 7: The Planning Commission reviewed and considered the updated General
Plan and Land Use Map and finds that it is consistent with and reflective of the City's continuing
goals, policies, actions, and intent to adopt a general plan for the physical development of the
City. Based on the foregoing evidence and findings, the Planning Commission hereby
recommends that the City Council amend the existing General Plan, with the exception of the
City's certified Housing Element.
Section 8: For the foregoing reasons and based on the information and findings
included in the Staff Report, Minutes and other records of proceedings, the Planning
Commission of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes hereby adopts P.C. Resolution No 2018-12,
recommending City Council adopt the updated General Plan and Land Use Map.
P.C. Resolution No. 2018-12
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PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 27th day of March 2018, by the following vote:
AYES: COMMISSIONERS LEON, NELSON, TOMBLIN, PERESTAM,
SAADATNEJADI, VICE CHAIRMAN BRADLEY, AND CHAIRMAN JAMES
NOES: NONE
ABSTENTIONS: NONE
RECUSALS: NONE
ABSENT: NONE
Williag7/41,L2.4.........16-•s
Vice Chairman
Ara Mihrani ICP
Director of Community Development and
Secretary of the Planning Commission
P.C. Resolution No. 2018-12
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